Self-adjusting attachment for piano-players.



T. H. GABASINO & T. W. VRANA. SELF ADJUSTING ATTAUHMBLFT FOR PIANO PLAYERS.

APPLIOATION TILED MAY 4,1910.

1,023,005; Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IN VE N T 035 Thomas f1. Caasmo ATTORNEYS T. H. CABASINO & T. W. VRANA.

SELF ADJUSTING ATTACHMENT FOB PIANO PLAYERS.

APPLIGATIOH FILED mu 4. 1910.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSE hd mmv mas T/zom'ms [7&2 64251120 ar/madam WV/Yma A TTO RN E Y8 'proved attachment for memes n. ensesmo AND THEODORE W. VTBANA, OF NEW YORK; N. Y.

SELF-ADJUSTING ATTACHMEN FOR PIANO-PLAYERS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS H. CABA- smo, a citizen of the United States, and Tnnooonc VRANA, a subject of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, and residents, respectively, of the city of New York, Corona, borough of Queens, in the county of Queens and Stnte of New York, and of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in theconnty. and State of New York, have invcnteila new and "Tm-proved tdjusting Attachment for Piano-Players, oil which. the following exact (leSC'l'lPl-lOl'l.

This invention relates to a. nrw and im? a piano, layer, whereby the openings in the per sheet or roll will always be maintained in proper register with the corresponding openings in the tracker.

A difficulty which has arisen in most piano players is in maintaining the corresponding openings on in proper register with the openings in the tracker, whereby the instrument will be caused to play the music as originally renwhen forming the music sheet. It often occurs that in reeling or nnreeling the pci-hn-=ii.e i shoot i becomes slightly twisted, and travels :it a, slight angle, t. ing the corresponding openings out of register. V

Anohject, therefore, of this invention, is t; so arrange the tracker that it will be cutomnticnlly manipulated bythe position of v the playing sheet.

It is to be iilways maintained in such a position, so' that its open ings will be" in register with the proper openin in the playing sheet Anot ier object of this in'vpntion is to provide a device which will be comparatively simple in construction, inex ensive to manufacture, strong, durable {in bothquic'k and relinhle in its operatioin 1 These and further objects, together with the construction and combination of: parts, will be mo particularly pointed out hereinafter and specifically set forth in the claims.

Reference is to he had to the accormmny ing drawings, forming a part of this speck ficstion, in which similar characters of refdenote corresponding parts in nll'the and in which re :1; 'hogniemnry detached view dies-n at the attachmentto the piano I Specification 0! Letters Patent. Application filed May 4,1910. Serial No. 559,295.

player; Fig. 2

Seli

is often, clear, and

'oreted the perforated sheet ierehy bringwhen the one ofthe valve retaining plates removed;

' Fig- 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3.

of Fig-2; Fig. tie a. vertical-section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; Fig 5 is a. bottom plan view of' thevalve casing'; Fig. 6 is a. top plan view showing the valve casing removed, and one of thediaphragms also re?? moved; Fig. 7 is an end view in elevatio and Fig, 8 is c section on the line 8-8 of. Fig. l. p e

Referring more particularly, to the separate-ports of the device, 1 ind cates a. framework of any suitable form and material, and which is provided with suitable bearings 2 for a. music roll indicated, in dotted lines M3. in Fi Patented Apr.9, 1912. p

is a. top plan view showing 4 In the, face 0% the frame 1 there are provided slots 4, whichform ways for a tracker 5, which 'is .slidingly' mounted therein. The tracker is further held and guided in the ways 4 b means of guides 6 arranged in juxtaposition to the ways, and ositivelv engeging the trsckerf The tree er 5 is provided with the usualbent openings 7 which sire connected in any suitable manner to a. pneumatic player action of any suitable character, and there is one of them for each of the keys in thepieno, whereby they "are odo ted to uctuatevthe sounding mechanism w en the perfori 'tions in the sheet 8 of the music roll come in'opposition or register therewith.

In order that the oorres ending openings may be always .ma'intsined in-register even sheet8-unwinds unevenly, there are provided at each side-of the series of openings 7, openings- 9 and 10,whieh are normal yHcovered-hy a sheet of the proper width 30 that no. air can pass therethrough.

These openings 9 end 10 might be a single narrow slot extendingverticelly, but we prefer to construct them in the form of a plurality, preferably three, minieture openings 11, arranged in vertical alinement. The object of having uplurality of vertical perforations .or openings is-s'o that if one or even two of them should happen to be momentarily uncovered, by a jagged or torn portion on the edge of the music sheet, sufficient air would not be permitted to pass tlierethrouvh to actuate the mechanism. If, however, t e sheet should pass sufliciently to one side to entirely uncover the three openings, sufficient all would be permitted to pass through to actuate the mechanism. For

this purpose, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and S, the openings ll are connected to attach ing pipes 12 which in turn are connected by any suitable pipes, such as the flexible tubes 13 and 14, to passages 15 and 16, in the frame 1, which in turn are connected to chambers 17 and 18. The tops of the chembers 17 and 18 are closed by suitable membars 19 and 20, preferably in the form of impervious flexible diaphragms, which form yielding supports for valves 21 and 22, slidingly mounted in a valve casing 23, which is mounted on the frame 1 in any well-known manner, preferably so as to form an'airtight fi The valve casing is preferably provided with cavities and 25, which are arranged in opposition to the chambers 17 and 1S, and are Intercounected among themselves by means of a channel 36. One of the cavities 24 is (:onnected by means of a passage 27 and asuctien pipe. 28 to a suitable vacuum former separated from the cavities 24 and by means of llanges 2! and communicatinz. therewith lav means of openings 30,

therelln'ougli. There are provided recesses 31 and 32 in the valve casing 23, it; which are located heads i of the valves 21 and 22, the spindles of those valves extendin downwardly through the openings 30, until the v come into contact with the diaphragms 19 and i"), which are adapted to support them. he recesses 31 and 32 are partially clonal at the :op Irv means of plates 34 and 33. which ar provided with openings 36 and l? whi -arc adapted to be closed by tlu' valves 2;, when the latter are in their ralsml position. and to be opened when the valves are in llicir lowered position,

For the purpose of connecting the suction or vacuum of the chambers 24 and 25 to the underside of the diaphragms l!) and 20, and thus to the chambers 17 and 18, the passages l5 and 16, as will be noted by refcrenec to Fig. 6, are provided with pin-hole .openings 38, which are in register with channels 39 (see Figs. 3, 4 and 5) which let into the cavities 24 and Mounted on the frame 1 in juxtaposition to the valve casing '23, there is provided an actuator 40, in the form of a base 41, and a pneumatically operated lever 42, pivoted to the base 41 intermediate its ends. The lever 42 is spaced apart from the base 41 on either side of its pivot point. and these spaces are occupied by flexible chambers 43 and 44, formed in any welbknown manner, as by means of accordion plaited casings. The chambers 42 and 43 communicate respectivel with the recesses 31 and 32 by means of passages 45, that when the valves 21 and 22 are in their raised position communication will e opened between the chambers 43 and 44, and the vacuum former connected to the pipe 28.

The means for transmitting the motion of the lever 42 on the actuator 40 may be of any suitable sort, such as links 46 and 47 pivotally connected to opposite ends of the lever 42, and also pivotall connected to arms 48 and 49. These arms 48 and 49 are secured on opposite sides ,of shafts 50 and 51, which in turn arerot-atably supported in any well-known manner on the frame I,- and are provided with gears 52 and 53, which mesh with racks 54 and 55, provided on the tracker 5.

The means'for reciprocating the tracker 5 back and forth, to bring the openings therein in proper register with the openings on the music sheet, may be termed the manipulator.

The operation ofthe device will be readily understood when taken in connection with above description. For the purpose of illustration, we wiill suppose, for example, thatthe sheet 8 has traveled slightly to the left. in Fig. 1, so that the perforations therein are brought out of exact register with the openings 7 in the tracker 5. This movement to the left will uncover the vertically alined openings 10. The act of uncovering these openings will permit atmospheric pressure to enter the tube 14, and thus come under the diaphragm 20. inasmuch as the chamber 25 is connected to the source of vacuum indicated by the pipe 28, the diaphragm 20 will be raised by the suction or, stating it in other terms, by the difference in pressure, due to the atmospheric pressure; the raising of the valve of the diaphragm 20 will lift the valve 22, oft its flange, or seat 29, simultaneously closing the opening 37 so that the recess 32 is cut ofl from communication with theatmosphere. The recess 32 will thereby be brought into communication with the cavity and thus with the source of vacuum indicated at 28. Hence the chamber 44 which is in communicat-ion with the recess 32, will be brought into communication with the source of vacuum and a suction will he created therein, thereby. depressing the ri ht-hnnd side of the lever 42, and raising the left-hand side so that the shaft 51 will be rotated to the left, and the shaft 50 also rotated toward the left by reason of the opposite positions of the arms 49 and 48, so that the l'flClCS 55 and 54 will be shifted toward the leftthus forcing the tracker 5 also toward the left. until the proper openings T in the tracker come in register with the corresponding openings on the paper S. which will occur when the openings 10 are once more covered by the edge of the paper 8.

It will be noted that as soon as the paper- 8 covers the openings 10, the supply rt ::T: to the under side of the diaphragm 2H w l be cut oil, so that the air which rmnaiti o; the tube 14 and the chamber 18. \\ill be sucked out by means of its communication with the cavity 25 through the passage 39 and the opening 38, so that the diaphragm 20 will be permitted to fall undercthe weight of the valve 22, thus cutting off communi' cation between the chamber 44 and the source of vacuum and admitting air under atmospheric pressure to the chamber 44, so that it will remain in its adjusted position until a subsequent movement of the sheet relative to the tracker causes a movement of the tracker. In case the opposite condition of affairs should take place, and the sheet of music 8 moves abnormally to the right the openings 9 would be uncovered, an

the opposite condition of affairs would take' )lace; that is to say, the chamber 17 would be brought into communication with the atmosphere, thereby causing the diaphragm 19 to be sucked up, and the valve 21 raised, thus cutting 01!, communication between the chamber 43 and the atmosphere, and open:

ing communication between the chamber 43 and the source of vacuum, so that the lever- 42 would be drawn down to the left and the tracker would be forced toward tlie right until the openings 9 came underthe paper once more. 7

It will be noted that if byany chance the paper should have shrunken, or for any other reason be of a size too narrow to cover the openings 9 and 10, both of the 'pneumatics will be actuated so that the tracker will not be shifted out of adjustment. The same is true if the paper should happen to be too wide, in which case neither of the pneuinatics would be operated, and the tracker would be maintained in a normal mid position.

\Vhile we have shown one embodiment of our invention, we do not Wish to be limited to the specific details thereof, but desire to be protected in the various changes, alterations and modifications which we may make within the scope of the appended claims.-

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The combination with a, frame, of a tracker slidingly mounted on saidfframe, a lever pivotally connected to said frame, connections between the op osite ends of said lever and'said tracker, w ereby said tracker is operated from said lever, and connections between said lever and said tracker, whereby the operation of said lever is controlled from said tracker.

-2. The combination with a frame, of a tracker movablymounted on said frame, a lever pivotally connected to said frame, connections between the opposite ends of said lever and the opposite ends of said tracker, whereby said tracker is moved by said lever, collapsible chambers for operating said lever, a suction pipe, said tracker having a plurality of openings therein, and connections bet-ween said openings and said suc tion pipe, whereby the connection and disconnection of said chambers with said suction pipe is controlled.

3. The combination with a frame, of a movable tracker on said frame, a lever pivoted intermediate its ends on said frame, connections between each end of said lever and each end of said tracker, whereby said tracker may be manipulated by said lever, and pneumatic means located on each side of the pivot point of said lever, for operatlever.)

V 4. Thecombination with a frame, of a movable'firacker on said frame, a lever pivoted intnrmediate its ends on said frame, connections tween each end of said lever tracker may 'be manipulated by said lever, pneumatic means located on each side of the ivot point'bf said lever, for operating said matic means from said tracker.

5. The combination with a frame, of a movable trackeron said frame having a plurality ofduct openings arranged in series, a lever pivoted intermediate its ends on said frame, connectionsbetween each end of said lever and each' end of said tracker, whereby said tracker may be manipulated by said lever, pneumatic means located on each side ofthe pivot point'of said lever, for operating said lever, and means for controlling said pneumatic. means from said tracker,

posed on each side of said tracker at an angle to said first-mentioned series of openings, adjacent the ends thereof, and connections between said pneumatic means and said openings.

In testimony whereof wehave signed our names to this specification in .the presence of two subscribin witnesses.

THMiAS H; CABASINO. *THEODORE W: VRANA. Witnesses:

Hona'no Wm'rmo, Pnmn? D. Ronnmus.

for flve cents each, by addressing the commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. 0.

end of said tracker, whereby said ever, and means for controlling said pneu-' comprising a series of alined openings dis- 

